The present invention relates generally to the field of multi-modal communications, and more specifically, to real-time, collaborative interactions among users.
Browsing the web, as it is currently designed and practiced, tends to be an inherently individual task as the traditional setup of one display and one set of input devices does not lend itself to use by more than one person at a time. However, there are situations in which collaborative browsing would be desirable. For example, planning a trip, researching a topic, and showing another user how to perform a task usually requires sending links back and forth via e-mail, using remote desktop software; or simply looking over another's shoulder.
A person “on-the-go” may occasionally need to access certain information that can be retrieved by browsing the Internet, but may not be able to access the information if walking, driving, or is otherwise unable to spend the cognitive resources to do the browsing. Instead, the person might contact a user who is at a desktop computer and who has the cognitive resources perform the browsing task as a proxy. For a collaborative user having only a mobile communication device, collaborative browsing with a desktop user can be advantageous when the complexity of a particular collaborative task might overwhelm the resources of the mobile device.
The browsing task might involve obtaining directions to a location or checking an e-mail for a piece of critical information. The mobile worker might need to obtain information from a home office and may rely on a family member to send the information to the mobile device. This information may be of a technical nature and may later be used for reference, requiring a log of such information requests to be maintained. Or, the mobile worker may need to fill data into a web form based on information provided by a customer using a phone. In some cases, there may be a need to share aspects of the data entry process so that the customer can actively participate, provide better answers, and correct mistakes.
In the present state of the art, such tasks comprise a primarily one-sided collaboration carried out entirely over a voice channel. In some situations, the mobile user may need to give up some confidential information, such as a password, in order for the desktop user to accomplish the browsing task. As mobile user gives instructions, the desktop user describes results appearing on a display—a process which typically leads to errors and frustration. The result of the collaborative interaction may further require the mobile user to either remember or to write down complex information, such as directions or phone numbers.
A number of systems have been designed to support collaborative web browsing or searching. Many of these are highly synchronous, with all participants viewing the display of one machine and sharing access to the keyboard and mouse pointer. One of the most common is Remote Desktop, developed by Microsoft, that allows a local user to control a remote computer. Other approaches have been designed more specifically for collaborative web work. For example, in the technical paper “GroupWeb: A WWW Browser as Real Time Groupware” by Greenberg et al., a browser is disclosed that allows group members to visually share and navigate World Wide Web pages in real time. A presentation tool is designed for real time distance education and conferencing, and provides for gesturing through pointers and annotations.
Other work has focused specifically on improving users' abilities to collaborate on web search tasks. A common overall approach is to allow users to use a divide-and-conquer strategy through splitting up web pages. One example of this is disclosed in the technical paper “WebSplitter: A Unified XML Framework for Multi-Device Collaborative Web Browsing” by Han et al. which splits a web page among multiple devices so as to deliver a different partial view of a web page to each of multiple users.
A system described in the technical paper “SearchTogether: An Interface for Collaborative Web Search” by Morris et al. takes a more comprehensive approach in supporting both synchronous and asynchronous collaborative web searching. The system provides awareness of other users' search terms and history of visited pages, mechanisms for division of labor in searching, and shared storage and annotation of search sessions.
Therefore, there is a need for a method that facilitates collaborative interactions among users, where one or more users may be accessing a communication device.